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8.04 Climate - Closeup - Worksheetcomplete

This document provides a climate close-up worksheet for students to analyze two articles about how coral reefs can be used to collect data on the relationship between trade winds and global temperatures. The worksheet includes questions about how coral samples can provide information on past climate conditions by revealing patterns in band thickness corresponding to factors like temperature and nutrients. It also prompts students to explain how coral in Kiribati records trade wind strength through chemical elements, and how scientists confirmed this mirrors wind records, with weaker trade winds in the past leading to a slowdown in global warming by cooling surface waters and reducing heat transfer to the atmosphere.

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314 views2 pages

8.04 Climate - Closeup - Worksheetcomplete

This document provides a climate close-up worksheet for students to analyze two articles about how coral reefs can be used to collect data on the relationship between trade winds and global temperatures. The worksheet includes questions about how coral samples can provide information on past climate conditions by revealing patterns in band thickness corresponding to factors like temperature and nutrients. It also prompts students to explain how coral in Kiribati records trade wind strength through chemical elements, and how scientists confirmed this mirrors wind records, with weaker trade winds in the past leading to a slowdown in global warming by cooling surface waters and reducing heat transfer to the atmosphere.

Uploaded by

alexa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Climate Close-up Worksheet

Coral reefs are used to collect data about the relationship between trade winds and
global temperatures. For this assignment you will read two articles: “Climate Close-Up:
Coral Reefs” and “Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures.”
Make sure to answer the questions in complete sentences using evidence from the
original source articles.

Climate Close-Up: Coral Reefs Questions 


https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Paleoclimatology_CloseUp/
paleoclimatology_closeup_2.php 
Answer the following questions about the article.  
1. Why does the author refer to the coral reefs as “talkative forests”? What do they
"say"? How do the reefs parallel actual forests on land?  (5 points)

The author refers to the coral reefs as “talkative forests” because they are rich
and diverse ecosystems that host a variety of organisms that interact with each
other. Coral reefs are known for their complex communication networks and
signals that can be seen as a form of "conversation." Just as forests provide
habitats and resources for a variety of on-land l organisms, coral reefs provide
habitats and resources for a variety of marine organisms.
2. Give a short summary of how the coral samples give information about past
climate. What are the three main factors that determine the growth of corals? How
do scientists determine what the bands say about climate change? (5 points)
 
Coral samples give info about past climate by changing in thickness depending
on three factors: temperature, availability of nutrients, and the water clarity.
Scientists use their observations of the patterns of the band thickness to
determine how the corals have changed.
3. According to the article, what factors limit the climate record found in coral
reefs? (5 points)
Almost all coral reefs grow in tropical areas, so those reefs are the only ones that
can tell scientists about that climate record in that area. Also, scientists can only
read coral reefs that are alive, and reefs only tend to live about a few hundred
years.
 
“Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures” Questions 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/corals-show-how-pacific-trade-
winds-guide-global-temperatures-180953703/?no-ist 
Answer the following questions about the article.  
4. Describe how the Kiribati corals “record” the strength of the trade winds. Include
what the element manganese tells us about the events in the waters when the coral
was developing. (5 points)
The corals in Kiribati record the strength of the trade winds by incorporating
certain chemical elements into their skeletons as they grow. Manganese in the
coral skeleton can tell scientists about the past ocean conditions and weaker
trade winds at the time when the coral was growing.
 
5. How did scientists confirm that the coral data accurately mirrors the history of the
Pacific trade winds? Explain how the Pacific trade winds led to a slowdown in global
warming. Relate this information from the article to what you have learned about
heat storage and transfer by air masses and oceans. (5 points)
The scientists confirmed that the coral data accurately mirrors the history of the
Pacific trade winds by comparing the results to wind records from 1960 and
onwards, when the trade winds started to be tracked reliably. Pacific trade winds
acted to cool the surface waters, which in turn cools the surrounding air and
reduces the amount of heat that is transferred to the atmosphere.
 
6. Based on the evidence from the past 100 years, what is likely to happen when
the trade winds slowdown in the next couple of decades? (5 points)
Based on the evidence from the past 100 years, I believe that when trade winds
slow down, the rate of global warming will start to increase.

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